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Alternative for the future?

New paper on Norway lobster fisheries in the North Sea

Jonas Letschert, PhD student in the SeaUseTip project, and his co-authors have dealt wirh the development of Norway lobster fisheries in the North Ses since the year 2000. In that course, they have put special emphasis on the activities of the German fleet.

For some of the small-scale coastal fishing vessels in Germany, catching crustaceans had proved to be a profitable alternative to plaice, with the result that catches have risen steadily since 2005. However, this was only possible through extensive quota exchanges, especially with the United Kingdom. After Brexit, however, it is no longer possible to maintain the exchanges in their current form.

In addition, increasing spatial constraints, primarily due to the significant expansion of offshore wind power and an expansion and planned restrictions on fishing activities in designated marine protected areas, will impact available fishing opportunities. In particular, Norway lobster fishing areas in the German Bight, could overlap up to 45% with future spatial fishing restrictions. However, the specific impact cannot be assessed at this stage, as fishing exploitation in future Natura2000 protected areas may be realistic to some extent.

For more details you can download the complete paper <link https: academic.oup.com icesjms advance-article doi fsab204 external-link-new-window external link in new>here.

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